JASON: No, Nunca, Not Happening
In John 11, Jesus says “no” when Mary and Martha ask him to drop everything and save their dying brother, Lazerus. Shortly thereafter, Lazerus dies. Shortly thereafter, Jesus shows up, and Lazerus is resurrected. All because Jesus said “no!”
Do you want to know why we can’t say “no” like Jesus did? It’s because we want to control it all. Listen to me, you cannot control your life. But what do we do? We are so afraid to lose control, that we fill our plates up with every little thing so that we can control the whole thing, so that it will happen the way we want it to happen, so that we’ve got it all. Jesus says “no” and backs away from controlling the situation. The truth is that Jesus could have showed up before Lazerus died, controlled the situation, and fixed everything. But Jesus didn’t do any of that. He waited four days, until control was placed firmly in God-territory. Jesus shifted everybody into miracle territory. Jesus gave up control. The truth is that when you constantly say “yes,” you are a control freak. When you start saying “no” you give up your control and submit to God’s control. The real irony is that, in trying to control everything, everything controls you.
Control freaks listen up. Experts will tell you that you can only do well two to three different things. Experts have found that when you try to apply yourself to more than three things, you’re only able to then do one or two of those things well. It’s diminishing returns. The problem is that you are trying to do 37 different things, and you end up feeling like one of those circus actors who tries to spin 37 different plates on 37 different parts of their bodies, hoping that none of them will come crashing down. Have any of you ever felt that way?
The thing about saying “no” is that it immediately kills something. Like Lazerus, you kill something. It immediately closes a door. One of the best things that you could ever do is to close a door. Won’t you close a door and give up control? Shift yourself into miracle territory.
